This invention relates in general to electrical control systems and in particular to devices for controlling automotive supplementary restraint systems.
Since the early 1990""s, automobile manufacturers selling cars in the United States have been required to equip the cars with supplementary restraint systems (airbags). One or more airbags are stored in a forward position from the front seated passengers. The vehicle""s computer system monitors activity to the automobile and initiates necessary deployments of the airbag by sending signals through the circuitry to the airbag module. By design, the rapid inflation of the airbag protects the passenger from contact with the vehicle""s steering wheel, dashboard, windshield, or other components.
One problem associated with these airbags is the growing safety concerns for smaller-sized adults, children seated in the front passenger seat of the vehicle and children in child safety seats secured in the front passenger seat of the vehicle. During the rapid and violent inflation, the airbag has potential to do harm to these particular classes of passengers.
Automotive manufacturers have offered switches as an option for disabling a single airbag having a single igniter. Airbags having multiple stage igniters have now been introduced. A multiple stage igniter has two igniters. At a low speed collision, only one of the igniters may ignite to inflate the airbag, while at higher speeds, both igniters actuate to inflate the bag. The single igniter inflates the airbag with less force than the two combined. To applicant""s knowledge, prior to applicant""s invention, manufacturers did not offer disabling switches for dual stage igniters.
In this invention, a switch allows a request from the vehicle""s computer system to inflate the airbags to be over-ridden and the airbag prevented from inflating. Similarly, the switch can be positioned to have the vehicle computer system and airbag modules work without interruption and function as normal. In the preferred embodiment, the vehicle""s original circuit between the computer system and the airbag module is broken. A switching device is connected in this created gap, causing the vehicle""s circuit to run through the switching device. The switching device allows an operator to select whether the computer system""s signals will pass through to the airbag module uninterrupted or be altered. The device may work as an over-ride of the computer""s request by the operator selected request. The switching device works with more than one airbag, and it also is operative with dual stage modules.